Microgreens are a fun way to add variety to your daily meals. They are nutrient dense, colorful and have fresh flavors along with tender crunch. I have been growing microgreens about five years and they are easy for the home gardener to grow.

This is the time of year when we go from just harvesting to harvesting in earnest. You actually have to have a plan. What you can’t eat, freeze or can now, you need to give away and give away fast. Here are some great ways to make the most of your bounty.

Themed gardens remain a popular way of motivating or inspiring gardeners to design a garden with specific intent. Several years ago, I wrote an article about growing a salsa garden; a cocktail garden is similar. With the end product in mind – in this case, a cocktail – you have a plan for what you can do with your harvest. This can be a fun way to put a “spring” in your step, especially for new gardeners, those looking for creative ways to be inspired, or those who admittedly have no green thumb.

What is your idea of a perfect garden? Abundant flowers and lush greenery? Ripe vegetables and plump fruits? These days, with smaller yards and longer work hours, few gardeners have the space or time to care for both a kitchen garden and a separate ornamental garden. When you plant a blended garden, you can feed both body and soul.

You’ve grown heirloom tomatoes. You know what it means to cook with superior ingredients. So take it to the next level. Enjoy roasted salad turnips with the slightly piquant base of the greens still attached, sweet baby broccoli tossed in garlic butter, tender mini beets, and grilled radicchio. If you can grow tomatoes, then there’s no reason you can’t grow gourmet delicacies in your backyard garden as well.

Growing and exhibiting vegetables is an exciting way to get more than food from your vegetable patch. In addition to possibly winning a ribbon and a small amount of prize money, you’ll get the thrill of competing, the opportunity to learn about new varieties and inspiration for the future.

Anyone who has ever grown a backyard tomato knows that there is no comparison to the flavor and quality of a freshly grown tomato compared to one purchased at the supermarket. While tomatoes are arguably the king of the vegetable garden, they can be challenging at times because this tropical fruit can be finicky. By far, tomato problems exceed those of any other vegetable. Whether that is because they just have more problems or because of how popular they are, they are definitely not easy to grow. Here I will outline what I see as the top 10 issues that can lead to tomato failure in the garden.

While on a food and native plant pilgrimage to Austin, Texas, I was offered a small plate of charred, wrinkly green peppers sprinkled with sea salt. The waiter said that the peppers were called shishitos and that they were native to Japan. Within a few minutes, I had devoured the entire plateful and was clamoring for more. These odd looking little peppers were seriously addictive.

There is nothing I like more than being out in my vegetable garden in late March and April, working my soil in anticipation of a bountiful harvest. Temperatures at that time are usually splendid and I have no problem enjoying one of my favorite pastimes. As I fast-forward several months into the summer, my enthusiasm begins to wane as 90-degree days and high humidity begin to plague me. Not only do I have a problem staying active in such unbearable temperatures, but my plants always seem to be suffering as well. While many gardeners throw in the towel during the hottest part of summer and recline back in their air-conditioned homes, there is still an opportunity and possibility to extend your harvest season all the way until the cooler months of fall.

With garden space and spare time at a premium for most families, gone are the huge backyard plots that once yielded all the vegetables a family could eat. After a move to the city in 2012, my own vegetable garden shrunk from a half acre in the country to a few raised beds. Nonetheless, I’m amazed at the large and varied harvest from my new, much smaller space these last two years.
Success for me and other small-space gardeners is due in part to plant breeders, who have developed compact veggies to replace some of the space hogs of the past. Many of these new varieties are ideal candidates not only for small beds, but also for containers, which means you can grow a decent harvest even if you have no ground at all.

Gardening in 2016 should be inspirational and eclectic and fun! What better plant to add to your garden than one that exhibits four seasons of interest and produces fruit for your cereal bowl! No more boring gardens stuffed with static plants that are not earning their keep – plant a new blueberry to spice it up.

A complete guide to simple container gardening designed for anyone who has ever killed a plant. It includes illustrated instructions to create gorgeous, fool-proof container gardens that even you can't kill!>> more information

Enhance your health naturally with herbs from your own garden. Even if you've never gardened before, you can care for yourself and your family using time-tested herbal remedies harvested from your own medicinal herb garden. Master Gardener Dorie Byers offers simple growing instructions for more than 20 versatile medicinal herbs such as garlic, chamomile, and echinacea. You'll also find recipes and tips for using the herbs for first-aid and preventive health care.>> more information